Abstract

The mechanism of the phase drift in electro-opticpolymer waveguidedevices is presented based on buildup of free ion charge at the electrode-clad interfaces. The difference of the electrode-clad interfaces at the top and bottom electrodes is shown to be important in reducing the drift and that doping of the core with macrocyclic polyethers can suppress this phenomenon. Arrhenius curves of long-term phase drifts using Mach–Zehnder modulators show the activation energies for symmetric electrode interfaces, asymmetric electrode interfaces, and macrocyclic polyether doped cores to be 0.30, 0.28, and 0.15 eV, respectively.

8.The present calculations were performed using equations on the relationships between the phase and the applied voltage via the Pockels effect, , where . For , . The phase shift can be written as and using , we can obtain .

Abstract

The mechanism of the phase drift in electro-opticpolymer waveguidedevices is presented based on buildup of free ion charge at the electrode-clad interfaces. The difference of the electrode-clad interfaces at the top and bottom electrodes is shown to be important in reducing the drift and that doping of the core with macrocyclic polyethers can suppress this phenomenon. Arrhenius curves of long-term phase drifts using Mach–Zehnder modulators show the activation energies for symmetric electrode interfaces, asymmetric electrode interfaces, and macrocyclic polyether doped cores to be 0.30, 0.28, and 0.15 eV, respectively.